On Tuesday, Arnold Schwarzenegger posted a video on social media of himself filling what he claimed was a giant pothole in his Los Angeles neighborhood. However, city officials disputed his claim and said it was a service trench related to active, permitted work by SoCal Gas, which was expected to be completed by the end of May.
SoCal Gas finished the pipeline repairs in January but delayed permanent paving due to recent storms. They applied temporary paving and planned to finish permanent paving by the end of the week. SoCal Gas sent crews to level the patch and add strength to the temporary paving. The bitumen Schwarzenegger used was not useful as it was a concrete road.
Today, after the whole neighborhood has been upset about this giant pothole that’s been screwing up cars and bicycles for weeks, I went out with my team and fixed it. I always say, let’s not complain, let’s do something about it. Here you go. pic.twitter.com/aslhkUShvT
— Arnold (@Schwarzenegger) April 11, 2023
Schwarzenegger’s spokesperson said he did not regret his actions because local residents had been waiting for months for the dent in the road to be fixed. When asked if Schwarzenegger would pay to redo the paving he put down if requested by the city, the spokesperson said they did not want to solve problems that had not happened yet.
The spokesperson also clarified that Schwarzenegger’s action was not a political statement directed at the new L.A. mayor, Karen Bass, but that of a frustrated resident. Bass recently gave an update on how the city was working to repair 19,000 potholes caused by severe winter storms. City staff were being proactive and assessing the conditions of the streets across the city to identify and repair damage right away.
